June 25 marks the 46th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Mozambique.
On this occasion, we are looking back on the long-standing and traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
It was during the 1960s when the Mozambican people raised the banner of struggle for national liberation against the Portuguese colonialists.
President Kim Il Sung, who paid deep attention to the anti-colonial struggles of the African people for national liberation, devoted much for developing the relations with the Mozambique Liberation Front Party which was at the forefront of Mozambican people’s struggle for independence.
President Kim Il Sung personally met with the delegations of the Mozambique Liberation Front Party headed by H.E. Samora Moises Machel that had visited our country in September 1971 and in March 1975 respectively and gave valuable instructions concerning the strategic and tactical issues arising in their anti-colonial struggle for national liberation. He also sent huge amount of aid on four occasions.
When Mozambique achieved independence on June 25, 1975, President Kim Il Sung was pleased more than anyone else and sent congratulations, and on this very day, the ambassadorial-level diplomatic relations were established between the DPRK and the Republic of Mozambique.
So much so that H.E. Samora Moises Machel, who had become the first Mozambican President after the independence, named a 1.5-km-long section of the central area in the capital city of Maputo as “Kim Il Sung Avenue” in high praise of the exploits of President Kim Il Sung who extended both material and moral support for the independence of Mozambique.
When H.E. Samora Moises Machel visited Pyongyang in May 1978, he expressed his excitement, saying that the relations between the DPRK and the Republic of Mozambique are not only the ones of friendship and fraternity but also a genuine comradely relationship forged in the joint struggle against imperialism and colonialism.
President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il continued to pay deep attention to the efforts of the Mozambican people for building a new society and creating a new life after the independence and rendered sincere assistance to them.
The bilateral relations of friendship and cooperation have continued throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, and these relations are also developing on good terms in the political, economic, cultural and other fields with the turn of a new century. Valuable successes have been achieved through these relations, which meet the mutual interests of the peoples of the two countries.
We extend our firm support and solidarity to the efforts of the Mozambican government and people for consolidating national unity and attaining social stability and economic development, and we will remain committed to developing the traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
Jong Il Min, Member of Korea-Africa Association
